One Faith No Longer

"This book investigates how conservative and progressive Christians use their political attitudes and theological beliefs to define their social outgroups and shape their social identities. The core question is the role political and theological values play in the construction of the social identities of conservative and progressive Christians and how those values help members of each group find answers to questions of meaning. The bottom line the authors seek to illuminate in this book is that Progressive and Conservative Christians use entirely different factors in determining their social identity and moral values and we articulate ways in which they differ. The authors utilize a mixed methods approach to explore this question. They highlight how Progressive Christians, whom rely on what we call a Humanistic Ethic of Social Justice, emphasize political values relating to social justice issues as they determine who is part of their in-group, and tend to be less concerned about theological agreement. Conservative Christians, on the other hand, rely on a historical theology emphasizing biblical doctrines, and do not put strong emphasis on political agreement as they determine if yo